Now I get why people change the cassette

A woman loves her Huffy/Puffy single-speed coaster brake cruiser and just brought it in for me to make a torque sensor mid. I will use a 42 ringtone to a 24-t dial. I will go through frame to the display. Which requires soldering but it will be a zip-tieless bike. Just don't use a zip tie for a necktie or you could end up like the PA guy who put the 18 foot snake around his neck because at the time it seamed like a good idea.
1659485157363.jpeg
 
I weighed the solid iron America one piece crank from the Huffy. It is four-pounds. That means that the motor and battery will add 6-pounds over the original weight of the bike. She picked a small two-hour battery. This crank weighs as much as a sledge hammer. Why would anyone do that to a bike?
1659488790555.png
1659488939752.jpeg
 
PedalUma said:
My friend Fritz has some inside info from a contact at Sondors. He says that Cost Co will sell a bunch of returned hub drives for $500. These are $1700 bikes. I live in a hilly area and after comparing, I just can't do a hub motor. The last I rode was in 2019, an Orbea Gain. You could ghost pedal. It was a Euro-build like Stefan's so it toped out at 15 Mph. And could only do about 12 miles at full power. I can't believe that people wore spandex to ride something that sucks so bad.
Click to expand...
9-C not a clone, HubSinks and Statoraide. Add a Baserunner.
 
On the Gain everything is super proprietary. Demo mode seems to have enhanced performance. If the dealer forgets to take it out of demo mode the bike will die 5 Km from the dealership to prevent theft. Only a dealer can do programing and that is by using their key to log in a server in Spain. Then they enter the serial number of the bike. A dealer does not do the programing, it is automatic. It is a 250W ghost pedal hub. I sold a ton of Range Extenders in 2019. That is a 5.77Ah 36V battery that also requires a dealer to log in or it is just a paper weight. https://www.orbea.com/us-en/gear/accessories/cat/x35-range-extender-kit. Jenson is wrong. It is not 20 Mph. It is 20 Kph, that is 15.3 Mph! It sucks just like Stefan's.

The first thing to do is buy the pedals because it does not have any: https://www.rei.com/product/196740/...VXW1vBB1nDQjlEAQYBSABEgL0A_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
 
PedalUma said:
I weighed the solid iron America one piece crank from the Huffy. It is four-pounds. That means that the motor and battery will add 6-pounds over the original weight of the bike. She picked a small two-hour battery. This crank weighs as much as a sledge hammer. Why would anyone do that to a bike?
Click to expand...
So in other words about the same weight as the allegedly "forged" cranks that came with my Aventure by the time you put the weight of the absurd ring guide, chainring, and BB in the mix.

Hell, chainring and cranks for what my Aventon came with is 3 pounds 6 ounces without figuring the BB cart into the mix!

OldHeavyCranks.jpg

The laugh being those called "forged' when the texture is clearly sand cast, there's flash lines... about the only thing 'forged' on them is the information stamped on the back... like them being labelled 175mm, when Aventon says they're 170mm, and measuring center to center they're 165mm which is why they're 5mm shorter than the 170's I replaced them with.

Ashtabula (aka one piece) cranks are painfully common on single speed and three speed cruiser bikes. It's one area of bike tech where I'm quite well versed, and they have some advantages. They are cheap, almost never seem to go bad even when you wish they would, and you never have to worry about them loosening up and falling apart. Even better if you do need to service them (a rarity) with lube or new bearings you can do so without even taking the crank off the bike.

I've did a lot of conversions from Ashtabula to three piece, and honestly the difference is... dubious. For the pound or two you save in weight with a good aluminum set of cranks and quality BB, It can cost you reliability depending on the quality of shim you use since the bb shell / cage is so much larger in diameter than most "off the shelf" sealed units.

See my old cruiser where I made that swap.

Bike2010_crankLeft.jpg

Those adapters (51.3mm to 36mm) are finicky, hard to align, loosen up as they settle in from riding in a way that means the first three weeks or so you should NOT use threadlock on them (because you'll be fighting bedding it in), etc, etc. It is not a conversion I would do for anyone not qualified to maintain their own bike or who is unwilling to do routine checks.

I would actually be worried about putting a mid-drive on there unless they come with their own shims designed for it. I'm no expert on mid-drive but everything I keep hearing about them confirms my suspicion that it would not be a great technical match for me as a rider, or even for bikes that go even slightly out of parameters from a very narrow range of frame styles. Seems that the more you have to dick with the frame to make them fit, the worse they get.
 
Jason Knight said:
So in other words about the same weight as the allegedly "forged" cranks that came with my Aventure by the time you put the weight of the absurd ring guide, chainring, and BB in the mix.

Hell, chainring and cranks for what my Aventon came with is 3 pounds 6 ounces without figuring the BB cart into the mix!

OldHeavyCranks.jpg

The laugh being those called "forged' when the texture is clearly sand cast, there's flash lines... about the only thing 'forged' on them is the information stamped on the back... like them being labelled 175mm, when Aventon says they're 170mm, and measuring center to center they're 165mm which is why they're 5mm shorter than the 170's I replaced them with.

Ashtabula (aka one piece) cranks are painfully common on single speed and three speed cruiser bikes. It's one area of bike tech where I'm quite well versed, and they have some advantages. They are cheap, almost never seem to go bad even when you wish they would, and you never have to worry about them loosening up and falling apart. Even better if you do need to service them (a rarity) with lube or new bearings you can do so without even taking the crank off the bike.

I've did a lot of conversions from Ashtabula to three piece, and honestly the difference is... dubious. For the pound or two you save in weight with a good aluminum set of cranks and quality BB, It can cost you reliability depending on the quality of shim you use since the bb shell / cage is so much larger in diameter than most "off the shelf" sealed units.

See my old cruiser where I made that swap.

Bike2010_crankLeft.jpg

Those adapters (51.3mm to 36mm) are finicky, hard to align, loosen up as they settle in from riding in a way that means the first three weeks or so you should NOT use threadlock on them (because you'll be fighting bedding it in), etc, etc. It is not a conversion I would do for anyone not qualified to maintain their own bike or who is unwilling to do routine checks.

I would actually be worried about putting a mid-drive on there unless they come with their own shims designed for it. I'm no expert on mid-drive but everything I keep hearing about them confirms my suspicion that it would not be a great technical match for me as a rider, or even for bikes that go even slightly out of parameters from a very narrow range of frame styles. Seems that the more you have to dick with the frame to make them fit, the worse they get.
Click to expand...
I use these solid ones, they press in tightly. It has to be eccentric to accommodate the secondary motor mount. The motor for a coaster brake bike has an extra clutch and needs to be sensitive to two directions of pedal pressure. You do need to slightly back off on pedal pressure a half-second before coasting or the residual inertia in the chain will give the torque sensor a kick to your breaking foot. I had one of my best days so far today.
1659570414802.jpeg
 
PedalUma said:
It has to be eccentric to accommodate the secondary motor mount.
Click to expand...
As such, how do you line them up on each side?

The problem with normal ones is getting the through-holes for the screws to match, particularly since they are a press-fit. I have a foot long non-threaded rod that fits the inner diameter of the holes I use with a level to make sure I'm on the money before I start dogging things down.

Are you doing something similar with a piece of dowel or something?
 
Good question. That is right. You don't want a sideways motor. I use a piece of PVC with the cups lightly pressed in with my thumb to make sure the holes are aligned toward the bottom and slightly back. It is like eye balling to line up a handlebar stem. The longer the pipe the better. Then I start installing the motor, tightening loosely in a pattern with blue thread lock on everything. The motor gets shimmed first to tightly fit the cups on the bench. Finally it gets locked down.
 
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